Today in the MHSAA: 8/24/15

August 24, 2015

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

All MHSAA fall sports but football kicked off competition last week, with cross country, boys soccer, girls swimming and diving and volleyball starting Saturday.

Below are some notable headlines from the first weekend of this season, plus links to coverage.

Cross Country

St. Johns hosted its second “Under the Lights” meets Friday; Ithaca’s girls and Saugatuck’s boys bested fields loaded with much larger opponents – Lansing State Journal

The St. Joseph girls and Bridgman boys won championships at the Niles Stampede – the St. Joseph girls, who finished fourth in Lower Peninsula Division 2 last season, by a large margin – St. Joseph Herald-Palladium

Girls Golf

Maple City Glen Lake’s Nichole Cox, last season’s LP Division 4 individual champion, came back to defeat Brighton freshman Annie Pietila at the two-day Lober Invitational at Grand Traverse Resort – Traverse City Record-Eagle

Boys Soccer

Two of the state’s powers met in the championship game of the Detroit Country Day Tournament on Saturday – with 2013 Division 1 runner-up Bloomfield Hills downing the host Yellowjackets 1-0 in a shootout – Oakland Press

Girls Swimming & Diving

Howell won its Kenzie Klassic, which honors swimmer Mackenize Watts, who died in 2005 at age 15. The school also raised enough money to award three scholarships and begin funding cardiac-related causes – Livingston Daily

Volleyball

Novi won the Lakeshore Classic by coming back after losing the first two games to beat Grand Haven 3-2 in a rematch of a 2014 Class A Semifinal – Muskegon Chronicle

Battle Creek Harper Creek, for the first time, won the gold championship at the long-running Carrie Adams Memorial Tournament hosted by reigning Class D champion Battle Creek St. Philip – Battle Creek Enquirer

Good Read

Mike Steele, a Midland Dow grad and now pitching coach at Long Beach State in California, argues that parents need to raise their athletes to compete instead of providing specific training in one sport – Midland Daily News

Today in the MHSAA: 9/21/23

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

September 21, 2023

1. GIRLS GOLF Macomb Lutheran North – No. 2 in Lower Peninsula Division 3 – won its fourth-straight Macomb County championship, with senior Lauren Timpf the medalist for the third-straight season – Macomb Daily

2. BOYS SOCCER Division 2 No. 2 Holland Christian clinched the Ottawa-Kent Conference Blue regular-season championship with a 3-0 win over Division 3 top-ranked Hudsonville Unity Christian – FOX17

3. BOYS SOCCER Big Rapids clinched a share of the Central State Activities Association title with a 3-1 win over Howard City Tri County – Big Rapids Pioneer

4. BOYS SOCCER Division 3 No. 2 Detroit Country Day downed No. 5 Pontiac Notre Dame Prep 2-0 – Oakland Press

5. BOYS SOCCER Division 3 No. 8 Grosse Ile won another matchup of ranked teams, 1-0 over No. 9 Milan – Southgate News-Herald

6. VOLLEYBALL Gladwin defeated Sanford Meridian in a matchup of Jack Pine Conference leaders – Midland Daily News

7. GIRLS GOLF LPD4 No. 10 Traverse City St. Francis carded a 398 to win the Charlevoix Rayder Invitational – Traverse City Record-Eagle

8. GIRLS GOLF After finishing runner-up at its first three league jamborees, Muskegon Reeths-Puffer won one for the first time in five years in the O-K Green – Local Sports Journal

9. BOYS SOCCER Cadex Saxton and Tony Romero both scored four goals as Flint Kearsley downed Owosso – Mid-Michigan Now

10. VOLLEYBALL Stevensville Lakeshore won its Dig Pink match with St. Joseph in four sets – St. Joseph Herald-Palladium

Also of note …

BOYS BASKETBALL The Ecorse community is mourning the death of three-sport standout Dennell Kemp Jr., who was especially instrumental in the boys basketball team's successes the last two seasons and was expected to play Division I college baseball after graduation – MLIVE-Detroit

TENNIS Salem is mourning the death of longtime coach Bill Nelson, who led the Rocks for 28 years and then continued as an assistant – Hometown Life

FOOTBALL Zeeland is mourning the death of longtime athletic director Stan Jesky, who also served as football coach and was instrumental in the reorganization when Zeeland split into two high schools – Holland Sentinel